NEW FIREKITES VIDEO

Firekites are an indie rock group from Newcastle, Australia. Autumn Story is from their debut album ‘The Bowery’, out now on Spunk Records. Yanni Kronenberg and Lucinda Schreiber directed this beautiful chalk animation video for their single Autumn Story. The video has been out less than a week and already it's highly blogged about putting Firekites as a group to watch for on this music junkie's radar.

PUTTING THE "FUN" BACK IN "DYSFUNCTIONAL"

Chairs for the Dysfunctional are a series of seats designed to illustrate different social sitting habits. More than that, they question the way we interact with inanimate objects in our daily lives. The chairs were designed by Alice Wang; a recent graduate of MA Design Interactions at the Royal College of Art.












I particularly like the above work that allows you to update your status on the back of your chair. It brings to light the ridiculous behavior of letting the world know what we're up to or what kind of mood we're in at all times. This chair will be shown at the Salone Satellite at the Milan Furniture Fair (22-27 April, 2009) next week.

There's also the chair that equalizes heights


















and the fart amplifying chair.



















Click here to read more about this and other Alice Wang projects.

PANTONE

I forgot about this one! A post I wrote in January and forgot to publish. Better late than never . . .

To understand why this post is cool it helps if you have a basic idea of what Pantone is. If you’re in the know just skip the next paragraph and get to the good stuff quicker.

Pantone Inc. is a U.S. corporation that is best known for its PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM® (Yes, that’s PMS for short…some marketing director was asleep in that meeting). PMS is a proprietary color space used in a variety of industries, primarily printing, though sometimes in the manufacture of colored paint, fabric and plastics. The idea behind PMS is to allow designers to 'color match' specific colors when a design enters production stage—regardless of the equipment used to produce the color. This system has been widely adopted by graphic designers, reproduction and printing houses for a number of years now.

Pantone seems to be creeping into fashion, household products, office supplies...just about everything. Below are some fun Pantone projects for your viewing pleasure.
















[Pantone handbags from Mango in the UK]















[Pantone carpet from The Mohawk Group]















[Pantone glasses from Arm One]















[Pantone flight stool from British design team Barber Osgerby. Pantone decided to sell a limited edition of these stools on their website and Lawrence Herbert, founder and innovator of the PANTONE MATCHING SYSTEM®, has signed 20 of them! Click here to get your own flight stool!]

WATER-INSPIRED SINKS

Since doing design work for a high-end bathroom/kitchen faucet company, I find myself noticing bathroom fixtures around town more than I care to admit. Recently I came (virtually) across the Ocean sink from Bandini. With ceiling mounted faucets, this sculptural, yet entirely functional piece is an eye-catching organic form. The Ocean wash basin is available in black and white, and two sizes which can be combined into different formations due to their modular nature. It's f'n cool!

GHOST IN THE MACHINE

25-year-old freelance artist Erica Simmons (alias iRI5) has been doing some great work recycling cassette tapes to create images of iconic musicians (like the above one of Dylan). She's also done the Beatles, Hendrix, and Robert Smith. To see more of the Ghost in the Machine series check out her website : irI5. Want to know more or commission your own? Email the artist.

SHEEP ART

This footage is from Samsung's latest commercial to promote their LED technology for TVs. Armed with a hell of a lot of smart sheep, LEDS, and careful planning, they took to the hills of Wales to film. The “Baaa-Studs” team consisting of a sheperd, a cameraman, and several sheepdogs are the brains behind the ad. Released only a week ago, it's already a massive viral hit. It seems that all the geeks, myself included, are blogging about the baaaad ass sheep.

This product isn't new on the gadget market, but with everyone switching to Bluetooth devices I figured it was worth mentioning.

When I showed my dad my ipod touch a few months back, he said "I would need to sharpen my fingers into points to type on that thing!" A folding Bluetooth keyboard is ideal for those with pudgy fingers or not from the generation of touch screens. It may not be the slickest looking electronic, but it is practical for those on the road typing long emails.

This one is the Freedom Universal Keyboard which was released in Oct. 06' and is compatible with over 200 devices that have Bluetooth connectivity (the ipod not being one of them). You can pick it up online from Mobile City for about $90.